


Through My Fault

by ZarkonsReplacement



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, M/M, Multi, Polynesian Hunk (Voltron), Slow Burn, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-19 19:08:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10646190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZarkonsReplacement/pseuds/ZarkonsReplacement
Summary: Alternative ending to Through My Fault by BleuSarcelle. Posted with the author's permission. Go read that first, it's amazing! This starts after chapter 1.Lance's team is important. He is not. Lance knows that perfectly well, so when a chance comes up to save all of their lives at the simple price of his own... Lance knows what to do.Abandoned





	1. Lance Needs Help, The Poor Thing

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Through My Fault](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9669716) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> HEy there! Please don't hate me for this, I'm sorry I can't not hurt my precious Lance. It will end well though, I swear!

Lotor POV

  
Lotor had what he wanted. He’d beaten the paladins of Voltron and taken the beautiful blue eyed human for his own. Lance was still bonded to the blue lion, so they couldn’t get a new paladin and form Voltron. Not only was the team broken up, but Lotor could tell that each paladin had a strange attachment to Lance. He had broken up the team and had taken someone important to each of them. It was one of the best moves he could have made.

But it was not enough. The blue eyed paladin had not truly accepted him, had not given up on his friends. That would not work. Luckily, Lotor’s useless father had shown him how to do one thing - manipulate and torture people to get what he wanted. And so Lance would be his, no matter what it took.

 

Lance POV

  
Finding himself in an empty, white room surrounded by Galra was no shock to Lance. Finding that he was not tied down or restrained in any way was surprising at first, but Lance figured that he just wasn’t enough of a threat to the Galra. What danger did the weakest of the inexperienced Voltron paladins pose to trained Galra soldiers? Especially unarmed and without his lion. The only thing that really confused Lance was Lotor. Lotor had chosen to spend most of his waking hours with Lance, even when Lance was not yet awake.

Even more confusing was that Lotor had yet to harm Lance, or ask for information about the rest of the team. Lance would exercise or just lay in bed but Lotor was apparently content to just talk to Lance, even as Lance completely ignored him. He would flirt, tell silly stories, read a book out loud, or just lie in silence.

Lotor would also touch Lance when they were lying down together, running his hands wherever the blue paladin would let him. When Lotor went too far, Lance would slap his hands away, curl up, and close his eyes. That was when it was hardest to keep his face clean of emotion, and so he would turn away. Lotor strangely allowed him that boundary.

But after a week, Lotor was suddenly not there when Lance woke up. The change was not unwelcome, Lance hated waking up to seeing his captor smiling down at him, hated seeing Lotor every day instead of Keith or Shiro or Hunk or Pidge or literally anyone else, but he refused to show Lotor it bothered him. So waking up alone was nothing Lance would protest, but the sudden change in routine threw him off.

He went through his usual exercises, singing whatever songs he could think of under his breath, but he couldn’t stop thinking of Lotor. Why did he suddenly not come in, what was he planning? Had Voltron attacked, had they found him? Or was Lotor getting ready to start questioning the blue paladin like Lance had originally assumed? The uncertainties made it hard for Lance to focus on literally anything else, and the completely white room he’d already memorized didn’t help at all.

Lotor didn’t come back the next day, or the next, or the next. Lance resigned himself to solitude, and began making up stories and doing math problems in his head as he exercised or sat alone. He knew he was going a little bit crazy, even after only a few days. He had literally no kind of contact, the walls would open and spit out food automatically, and the room was equipped with a toilet and small shower. Lance craved contact, even the castle was lonely for him, so the complete lack of contact was making him seriously uncomfortable. He hadn’t heard a voice in days, and he knew if he were to start talking to himself that would show weakness, so he stayed silent.

He cracked three days later. He started muttering as he exercised, and started acting out every play he’d been in when he was lying down. He knew he probably looked absolutely crazy as he acted out his own death and then grieved loudly for himself in prose, but he knew it was the only thing that kept him sane (it might have helped that he could finally cry while he was acting, finally let go of some emotion).

About five days later, there was finally noise. Apparently the room also has speakers, and when he woke up to loud noises, he was ecstatic. For about three seconds. That’s how long it took him realize just what the noise was. All he could hear was the pained screams of his teammates from a however long ago when he gave himself over to Lotor. He didn’t know how the Galra had recorded it, but he heard them pleading with him not to go, and a scream of complete agony from Keith he didn’t remember. He assumed it had happened after Lotor had teleported them out.

Lance couldn’t bear listening to them scream in pain and in worry for him, and curled himself into a ball on his cot, humming to himself and trying to block out the noise.  
He cried himself to sleep for the first time that night, the agonised screams of his teammates echoing in the room.

*two days later*  
Lance hadn’t exercised in days, too tired to move. He tried to eat, but wasn’t able to keep anything down. He didn’t know exactly how long it had been since the screams started, but it felt like forever.

Someone came in. Lance ignored them, not wanting to see whoever it was. He didn’t want to see anyone but the people the horrible screams that haunted him came from.

Lotor’s voice rang out, a commanding stop barely heard over the sound of screaming and Lance’s own small whimpers.

The screaming stopped.

Lance sobbed.

He’d known it wasn’t real, known it was just sounds playing through a speaker and that they were fine now, alive and well in castle after a short stay in the healing pods, but when the screaming stopped… Lance couldn’t help but think that they had died. They had finally left him.

Lotor came up to Lance, who tensed upon hearing his footsteps. The absence of the screams made everything seem louder, and Lance couldn’t help but flinch away.

Lotor didn’t say a word, just tried to embrace Lance, tried to touch him and Lance screamed, flinching away. Those hands had hurt his friends, his boyfriend, his family. He couldn’t let Lotor touch him, he couldn’t.

Lotor slapped him.

Lance recoiled in shock, unsure of what to do. Lotor had never slapped him before.

The cell doors opened once again, and three Galra soldiers came in. Lotor motioned to Lance, and they went over to him and pulled him off the ground by his arms.

Lance struggled for a moment, then went limp in their arms as they pulled him out of the room.

The Galra led him down a few hallways and took him into a room Lotor had obviously set up for him. It looked like Earth, like the beach. The second he entered the room, the Galra soldiers changed. Suddenly, they looked like Keith, Hunk, and Pidge. Shiro entered last, and Lance assumed that he was really Lotor.

Keith and Hunk hung him from chains that extended down from the ceiling, so high that his toes barely grazed the floor if he stretched. It hurt his already sore muscles, but Lance made sure not to show his discomfort.

Shiro and Keith went over to a table by the door, grabbing a few things and coming back over to him. Shiro had a whip, and Keith held a knife. Hunk and Pidge were staring at him, waiting for something to happen.

The whip cracked.

Lance screamed.

They laughed.


	2. The Cavalry Comes For A Broken Paladin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets the help he desperately needs. But is it real?

Lance POV

  
A sharp slap to the face woke Lance. He’d gotten used to the sudden jolt of pain that would wake him up, and merely looked up to see who his torturer was today.  
Pidge.

Lance sobbed quietly, hating these days the worst. Pidge was like his little sister, seeing her covered in his blood made him sick.

The doors opened and Lance saw Keith pulling in a cart with a camera and some tools on it, followed by Shiro, and Hunk.

Lance watched as Keith set up the camera to face him and connected it to a computer. He was confused, but knew better than to ask what was going on, knew better than to bring attention to himself.

An image popped up on the wall, and Lance’s first thought was that they must be video calling a friend of theirs to let them in on the fun.

Then he read the word Voltron.

Lance started screaming, started struggling and trying to get them to stop. He knew what this was, he wasn’t stupid.

They were going to torture him in front of his teammates, the real ones.

Suddenly, Allura’s face popped up on the wall, the other paladins behind her. Lance sobbed in defeat.

“Princess Allura,” said not-Shiro, “we figured it was time you see your paladin again. I’m sure he would disagree, but we thought this would be a nice reunion for you all. You can, of course, leave at any point, but we’re certain that won’t happen.”

Allura ignored not-Shiro, her gaze trained on Lance. Lance couldn’t see the other paladins, and that was a small blessing.

The camera zoomed in on Lance, helpfully giving Allura a better view.

Allura winced.

Lance could hear his friends gasp from behind her, and suddenly Keith was there, having shoved Allura out of the way.

Not-Pidge and not-Keith stepped up to Lance, both holding whips Lance knew were doused with alcohol.

The whip cracked.

Keith screamed.

Lance sobbed.

Lance woke up. His nightmares were getting worse.

                                                                                                       *a week later*

 

Paladin POV

 

“Allura, I think I found him,” Pidge said, voice soft with hope. It had been over two months since they had seen Lance, and none of them knew what he was going through, if he was still alive. But they never stopped searching for him. 

Allura strode over to Pidge, crouching down next to her and looking at Pidge’s computer. 

“Ok, so I got into the Galra databases, and they have like 100 files on Lance. I haven’t looked at any of them yet, but I tracked where they were uploaded from, and I have his coordinates. It looks like a pretty big ship, but I know we can find him,” Pidge said.

“Send me the files on Lance and get out of those databases. I’ll set the coordinates for Lance, and we can look at some of the files on our way there. Go get the other paladins, please,” said Allura, and Pidge nodded.

The paladins were all gathered in the control room, faces ranging from eager to nervous. They didn’t know what was on those files, didn’t know what Lance had been through.

Nobody was really sure they wanted to know.

Allura opened the oldest file, and a video began playing. Lance was in a bright white room, and he was asleep. About a minute in, the lights brightened even more and Lance woke up. Screams could suddenly be heard, and the paladins watched as Lance’s face brightened, and then fell. They recognised the screams the same time as he did, recognised the sounds of their own voices ringing through the cell.

The video stopped as Lance curled into himself and sobbed.

The control room was silent.

Allura’s face was grave as she clicked on a video about halfway through the list.

Lance was in a new room now, and he was strung from the ceiling, feet dangling above the floor. He was asleep, like before.

The sound of a door opening rang through the room, and the paladins saw Shiro walk into frame. They all gasped, and Shiro choked on air.

Shiro walked up to Lance and slapped him awake.

Lance opened his eyes and glanced up at Shiro, resigned.

“Oh, it’s you today. I figured it would have been Pidge again after I spat in your fucking Prince’s face. Not that I’m complaining, don’t get any ideas you fucker,” Lance said, his words angry but his voice quiet and hoarse.

The door opened again.

The real paladins held their breath wondering who it would be that came in next.

Pidge, Keith, and Hunk walked into frame together.

Tears streamed down Lance’s face.

“Oh. Ok then. That works too,” Lance said, his eyes dropping to the floor.

The paladins in the video went out of frame for a moment before coming back into view, and they could suddenly see that Shiro held a whip.

The whip cracked.

Shiro gagged.

Keith screamed.

Pidge sobbed.

Hunk puked.

Allura sank to the floor.

Lance screamed in pain.

Coran turned the video off.

                                                                                                       *two days later*

Keith and Shiro were sent in to search for Lance while Pidge and Hunk distracted the Galra by attacking the ship. Shiro had an idea of where Lance was, he knew that the layout of Galra ships were basically the same, so he ran until he recognised the symbols above a door. After he figured out where he was, Shiro took off, faster than before, with Keith on his heels.

When Shiro stopped, they started to shoot at the control panels of whatever room was closest. Strangely, they were all empty and the red and black paladins met no resistance.  
Lance was in the sixth room they checked, and he was not alone. A very tall (and handsome) Galra was with him, standing casually against the wall. Lance glanced up when

Keith and Shiro walked in, then hung his head again, ignoring them.

“Ah, the red and black paladins here to save their dear friend Lance. Lance, do you want them to save you? Are you excited to leave me, ready to go back to battling against me?” the Galra cooed, stroking Lance’s face.

Lance looked up at Keith and Shiro, who were frozen in anticipation, weapons still drawn and pointing at the Galra.

“No, Lotor. Please don’t let me go with them. Please let me stay with you, please. Please, Prince Lotor, I’m yours,” Lance begged half-heartedly, still staring at his friends.

“Good job, Lance, thank you. You passed!” Lotor crowed. He lifted Lance’s face up and kissed him.

Keith made a noise of pure anger, and his bayard transformed into a gun. He shot at Prince Lotor, and hit his mark. Lotor disappeared.

Shiro and Keith ran over to Lance and cut him down from his chains. Lance was unable to catch himself, his body too weak to even hold his own weight. Shiro lifted him in his arms, bridal style, and began to carry him out.

Keith frowned, but let Shiro carry Lance. He knew that Shiro was stronger and that his new gun bayard would be best for protecting Shiro and Lance, but he’d waited months to hold Lance again and Shiro got to him first.

They made their way back to where they parked the red lion (knowing one of them would have to support Lance, they both rode in the faster lion) and Shiro set Lance on the floor, moving so that Lance’s head was in his lap.

Lance hadn’t spoken while Shiro carried him back, but he spoke up once Keith was in the pilot’s seat and they were off the ship.

“This is new,” he said, his voice small and broken.

“What?” Shiro asked, stroking Lance’s hair as he held the fragile paladin in his lap.

“I’ve never had this dream before. Usually when I tell Lotor yes you guys just leave, so this is new,” Lance said impatiently.

Shiro blanched. He had expected a lot of things when Lance was finally back, but Lance not believing he was back was completely unexpected.

“Lance, this is real. We did take a long time, so I understand why you might’ve given up on us, but we really are here and you aren’t going to wake up in that damn cell ever again,” Shiro told him, close to tears. If Lance doesn’t believe him now, he might always still have that voice in the back of his head saying it’s just a dream.

“Prove it,” Lance challenged, sure that Shiro couldn’t.

“How?” Keith called from the front when Shiro was silent.

“Do something I couldn’t dream. I’ve had this kind of dream before, you always do the same things when I say prove it,” Lance told him.  
Keith was silent for a moment, unsure of what to do. What could he do that would be so unexpected Lance could never dream it up?

“Shiro, kiss him,” Keith called out.

Shiro’s eyes widened, but he did as he was told, brushing his lips softly against the blue paladin’s.

Lance’s eyes widened.

“I’ve never dreamed that one before. If you are real, why’d you choose that one?” Lance said, breathless.

“Cause I know you, Lance. I’m fairly certain that when you have these dreams, Shiro makes the calls, and I listen. Shiro’s your hero, of course you’d imagine that. So I had to give the command and it had to be something I wouldn’t normally say,” Keith said, his voice soft, hoping Lance believed they were real, that he was alive and awake and coming home.

“I believe you,” Lance breathed, looking between Shiro and the back of Keith’s chair. He looked like his wildest dreams had come true, and, if the past few minutes were anything to go by, they had.

Hunk’s voice broke the silence, ringing out over the comms.

“Guys, you got Lance? Is he ok? Can we get out of here now?”

“Yeah, Hunk, I’m here. Get your butt back to the castle dude, I can’t wait to see you,” Lance called out, going into coughing fits when he stopped talking.  
Lance coughed up blood, and Shiro’s face paled.

“Keith, you need to move faster, Lance just coughed up blood, I think he has internal bleeding,” Shiro said, panicking. Keith sped up.

“Ok Lance, where exactly does it hurt, like there should be pressure or that feeling when someone presses on a bruise, show me where it feels like that,” Shiro said, voice steadying as he fell into battle mode, having to almost yell over the sound of the team worrying.

Lance motioned to his left side, and Shiro pulled up the black shirt he was wearing to look.

“Oh, Lance,” Shiro breathed. Lance’s side was completely covered with what looked like a really horrible bruise; red, blue, and black covered his side from the top of his ribcage down to his hip.

Shiro knew that that kind of bruise meant some serious internal bleeding, and the fact that Lance’s hands were getting colder meant he was losing a lot of blood, but how did

Shiro not notice, where was the blood even coming from… oh. Lance’s thigh was completely covered in bright red blood, and Shiro knew that he must’ve gotten shot at on the way back to the ship, must’ve saved Shiro’s life again by taking the shot, but at what cost?

Shiro took off Lance’s shirt, leaving him in just his underwear (apparently less is more with Prince Lotor, and the thought made Shiro positively seethe with anger). He would have used his, but his shirt was unreachable under layers of armor. He tied a tight knot above Lance’s wound and hoped that Lance would be ok.

They made it to the castle a minute later, and Lance passed out from the pain when Shiro picked him up. Shiro ran to the healing pods, knowing that Lance would die if he didn’t make it there soon.

Shiro was pushing Lance into a healing pod when the other paladins (and Allura and Coran) caught up. He pulled off the makeshift tourniquet and shut the glass door.

Shiro sank down to the floor beside the pod, staring at his hands, which were covered in Lance’s blood. Keith and Hunk sat down beside him, Allura and Pidge sitting down in front of him while Coran put in the settings on the pod.

“I’m not leaving this room until Lance steps out of that damn pod,” Shiro said, and other paladins murmured their agreements.

Coran and Allura left to go make them something to eat and bring in some mattresses and blankets to make their paladins more comfortable while they waited on Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for this train wreck.


End file.
